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Brandon Wagner
Brandon Charles Wagner, better known by his ring name, Shadow, is an American professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Xistence. Shadow, while not particularly well liked, is known as an undeniably precise striker and high flier with a strong wrestling pedigree, and is noted for his paranoia and ego. Early Life Childhood Brandon Wagner grew up in Long Beach, California, and was raised almost entirely by his mother, Rebecca. He had two older brothers, Matthew (7 years older than Brandon), and Cameron (2 years older than Brandon). Matthew was caught up in gang activity in his early teens and was rarely seen at home, but Cameron and Brandon were close friends. Their mother saw the destruction that Matthew's involvement in the gangs caused and quickly enrolled her younger sons into karate classes for the purpose of self-defense. Both excelled, and were able to defend themselves from gang activity. Teenage Years Brandon and Cameron were overachievers all through school, both academically and athletically. Brandon led his high school to a state championship in gymnastics, while his brother Cameron was a star wrestler. Both continued to pursue martial arts, and did well in that arena as well. Their interest in the tournament scene even saved their lives the night their mother was killed in their home by a gang that rivaled the one their brother Matthew now led. They were at a teams tournament the night it happened. Matthew picked them up that night and demanded they leave immediately. They fled to suburban San Diego with money Matthew stole from his gang's coffers. At 16, 18, and 23 respectively, the three needed to find some measure of income to support themselves. Matthew, in an attempt to leave his old life behind, found a job in a mail room. Cameron found out about the world of professional wrestling, got trained, and quickly began work for three independent federations at the same time. Brandon took a keen interest in this while he delivered pizzas, and Cameron began to teach Brandon as he himself was learning. Brandon often helped set up and tear down the rings for the federations at which his brother worked, and was paid a little for this as well. Wrestling Career Southern California Independent Circuit At 18, Brandon began working with Cameron in the independent federations under his given name. They often worked as a tag team, leading them to several championships in the area. Cameron, in many instances the federation's heavyweight champion, was larger, and blended his amateur wrestling experience with his judo training to create a powerful style. Brandon was smaller, and relied on his gymnastic abilities along with strong striking, making for a high flying and high impact move set that fans enjoyed. Nationwide Independent Circuit Four days after Brandon's 19th birthday, Cameron found Matthew selling drugs on a street corner. When Cameron confronted him about it, the situation turned violent. Matthew was already intoxicated to begin with, and in a fit of rage, pulled a gun on his brother in broad daylight. A struggle ensued, and Cameron accidentally fired the gun into Matthew's chest, killing him almost instantly. Cameron, unsure of what fate awaited him, took off and has never again been seen by anyone who knew him from Southern California. Devastated by the loss of his only remaining family, Brandon fled California and began to tour the nation erratically, never staying in a single place for longer than a few months. He also took on a new ring name to reflect his mood: Shadow. Silver Wrestling Organization Nearly every federation he worked at quickly made plans to put Shadow into heavyweight title contention, but he would no-show nearly every important match he was given. Eventually he developed a reputation of unreliability, and found himself unable to find work on the independent circuit. Finally, he turned to a Midwestern farm territory of a national federation. This farm territory, the Silver Wrestling Organization, enjoyed the ire of many independent promoters, who saw it as greener pastures than the independent circuit. As such, they never heard word of Shadow's unreliability. Shadow had a tryout match against another hopeful, Michael McLeod. McLeod went by the ring name Gemini, and was 32, 8 years older than Shadow. The tryout ended up stealing the show, and they became fast friends. They rose in popularity quickly, and Gemini held the heavyweight title in under three months. Shadow was fast on his tail, and rose to #1 Contendership quickly. Gemini had heard of Shadow on the independent circuit and knew of his apparent inability to show up for title matches. As such, he stayed with Shadow all that day, making sure he didn't try to go to another city. That night, Shadow defeated his demons, and later Gemini, to earn his first heavyweight championship in a match that received five stars from nearly every respectable wrestling publication in the country. Universal Wrestling Federation Shadow forfeited the SWO title two months later, after both he and Gemini were called up to their first major league promotion, the UWF. Here, the two entered the tag team division under the team name "The Ultimatum". After the duo paid some dues in the division, they were put into the championship picture, winning the UWF Tag Championship no less than four times together. In their last title defense, however, Gemini was brutally attacked, and his knee was shattered. Gemini was forced into early retirement, and The Ultimatum was laid to rest. Shadow began his singles career with a bang, winning the UWF X Title from Crossbones, the man who had shattered Gemini's knee. He held this title for seven months, going undefeated in singles competition until the X Division was disbanded. The UWF underwent a sharp decline in late 2005, due to a federal investigation that uncovered drug use and executive fraud running rampant. Both management and the roster underwent huge shake-ups, and the UWF lost its "major league" status. Shadow took this very personally, and vowed to promoter Kevin Cole to do everything he could to restore the former glory of the UWF. Shadow won the promotion-wide tournament held to crown a new UWF Heavyweight Champion, and did everything he could to find or create a viable contender. However, the UWF was crumbling around him, and he could see no way to keep it afloat. Add to this that World Wrestling Xistence was attempting to recruit him, promising far greater paychecks. In early 2007, he dropped the title intentionally to Valek Tepes, and headed to WWX. World Wrestling Xistence See also: Shadow's WWX Match History Shadow debuted for WWX in June of 2007. His first match was a win against Corporal Sanders, after Kron powerbombed Shadow onto Sanders' unconscious body when Shadow tried to stop Kron from interfering. Next was the Dutchman's Pit match, which saw Shadow's nose broken by Egotripp and his neck dislocated by Panasonic. This match brought about a change in Shadow's temperament. Feeling betrayed by his passion for the industry and reminded of the suffering he'd already endured, he descended into a deep depression that occasionally borders even today on psychopathy. The new Shadow became obsessed with the ideals of vengeance, balance, justice, and chaos. He manipulated Egotripp and Panasonic into a feud for Egotripp's AAA Championship. His bid for the title was unsuccessful, and his career was floundering until The Lost Soul took him in as a member of the super-stable "Eyes Only". Consisting of many legends and former champions, Eyes Only threatened the stability of WWX for nearly a month. As a part of Eyes Only, Shadow was victorious over 19 other WWX Superstars in the 2007 World Series. This earned him the WWX Television Championship as well as the #1 Contendership for the WWX World Championship. He would defend his #1 Contendership several times throughout the month, most notably against his bitter rival Ethan Cavanaugh in the Sacramento Classic, a brutal cage match that Shadow barely won. Coliseum 2007 saw him pitted against then champion Tommy Lipton for the Championship. Deeply paranoid about possible interference from what he perceived as a swarm of potential enemies, Shadow had Eyes Only placed at several points throughout the arena. Despite the intensity of the contest, it was Ethan Cavanaugh that managed to get through Eyes Only's protection and attack Shadow. Lipton was thusly disqualified, but was still able to hold on to the title. After Coliseum, Shadow was virtually nonexistent in WWX. His only appearance in a month was at Two Front War, where he lost the Television Title to Mute, after being attacked by Rick and Scott Dreamie. He was scheduled to defend against his old rival Egotripp, but after the Dreamies attacked Shadow, Egotripp refused to fight him. Mute was thusly substituted, and that was the last anyone saw of Shadow in WWX for over three months. Return to WWX After a sabbatical intended to put Shadow's mind back on track, Shadow made a dramatic return to WWX on Fury. During a 4-way Hell in the Cell match for the WWX International Championship, Shadow appeared atop the Furytron with Ethan Cavanaugh, a competitor in the match, and shoved him off, through the entrance ramp. Cavanaugh has yet to appear again in WWX, and Shadow has resumed his quest for self-perceived justice and balance. In Wrestling *Signature Moves **'Splashing Frog Press' (Shooting Star Press into a Frog Splash) **Total Darkness (Backflip into a DDT) **Blackout (Inverted Hurricana) Theme Music "Not Alone" by All That Remains Championships and Accomplishments *'Silver Wrestling Organization' **SWO Heavyweight Championship *'Universal Wrestling Federation' **UWF Tag Team Championship (4 times, with Gemini) **UWF World Heavyweight Championship *'World Wrestling Xistence' **WWX Television Championship **World Series Winner, 2007 Category:Wrestlers Category:American characters Category:World Wrestling Xistence wrestlers